As popularity of pickleball grows, so do injuries

The explosion of pickleball is apparent with tens of thousands of people in town for the Minto U.S. Open Pickleball Championship.

As the sport grows in popularity, the number of injuries is also rising.

Here are some tips on how to participate in the sport safely.

The game with the funny name is making moves, becoming one of the country’s top pastimes.

Friends Abby Hagen and Fran Payson enjoy it as a sport and social mixer.

“You know, the people that you meet just are so nice. Everybody’s out there for the same reason, just to have fun,” Payson said.

They sit among the 50,000 people expected at the championship.

Jose Tamillo is also there. He picked up the game about a month ago and jumped in with both feet, playing almost every day.

He’s already suffered a few missteps.

“I was trying to get the point and I fell on my shoulder,” Tamillo said. ” “You know, thank God I mean, I didn’t get hurt too much.”

Abby Hagen, of Fort Myers, said she fell a couple of times.

“You have to learn not to pedal backwards. So if someone loves lobs, the ball over your head, you have to learn to kind of sidestep, run backwards ,” Hagen said.

For her, the sport improves her heart health and is an ideal cardio workout, she said.

In 2022, more than 36 million people played pickleball and lots of them are going down swinging.

Doctors say avoiding injury begins with the warm-up before you are even on the court.

“People think it’s just pickleball they’re not warming up for it like they would for a real hardcore workout,” said Dr. Colin Haines, a spine surgeon at the Virginia Spring Institute.

Sprains, strains and fractures are the most common pickleball injuries.

To avoid pitfalls, Haines is partial to the 5-5 rule: Taking five minutes pre and post-play to stay in good form.

“Even something simple like walking around or doing high knees or, or even if you’re up at two jumping jacks, something to get the blood pumping and the muscles somewhat warmed up. I start with that and they do about half the other half of the time stretching, especially stretching the shoulders to hamstrings, Achilles and of course the spine,” Haines said. “Then I do the same thing in reverse on the back end to make sure I’m cooling down.”

By playing it safe, you can enjoy the sport while side-stepping injuries.